


our story was not told, but torn apart by greedy hands

by Starofwinter



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Post-Order 66, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23843941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: Marigolds - a symbol of despair and grief
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 168





	our story was not told, but torn apart by greedy hands

The flowers pull Cody back into his own body.

The haze of  _ good soldiers follow orders good soldiers follow orders goodsoldiersfolloworders-  _ that had choked out everything that  _ wasn’t _ an order fades into the background as he stares at the golden flower in his hand. Gold like stripes on armor, gold like sunlight on cinnamon-colored hair, gold like- gold like-

_ Good soldiers follow orders. _

His armor isn’t gold anymore.

He hasn’t seen real colors in so long, only the sterile white and gray and black of plastoid armor and Star Destroyers. It looks so strange now, almost too bright against his gloved palm. He crushes it under his boot and walks away. He has orders to follow.

* * *

Cody doesn’t think about Obi-Wan anymore; at least, he tries not to. The spike of fury that isn’t his own (the betrayal and grief that sinks into his gut  _ is _ his own) in his skull feels like a punishment for it whenever he does. Still, every so often, he remembers something new, and with it comes another choking flower-fall from his lips. 

He loved Obi-Wan.  _ Loved _ . He’s never loved easily, but he fell for Obi-Wan with everything he had. He’d truly believed that Obi-Wan loved him in return, but how could he? How could be betray everything they’d fought for if he really loved him? The more he thinks about it, the harder it is to breathe, and he doesn’t know if it’s the flowers growing roots in his chest or the tears he tries to silence.

He tries to stay away from the medics, but when he wakes up from a dream of Obi-Wan sitting beside him, both of them old and gray and still in love, the flowers come up stained bright red with blood and so thick he can’t breathe. Someone shouts his number and he tries to respond but all he can do is fall to his knees as the darkness washes over him.

He wakes up in the medbay with Arrow standing over him. He breathes slowly as he forces himself to sit up. “What’s happening-” He coughs again, and another petal sticks to his lips, coated in more blood.

The look on the medic’s face tells him everything he doesn’t want to ask. Arrow knows, or at least suspected, and he doesn’t say anything at first, just holds out a bottle of pills. “It’ll help the pain and keep you breathing for a while longer, but… there’s nothing else I can do, sir. Even I can’t bring back the dead, I’m sorry.” His tone isn’t cruel; the look in his eyes is nothing but grief and sympathy. 

Cody takes the pills, washing down a couple along with the taste of blood and flowers with the water Arrow gives him. “How long?”

“Maybe a couple of weeks. I wish I could give you better news, but it’s moving fast. When did it start?”

“After- it was after Utapau.” After he’d given the order to shoot down the man he loved and watched with satisfaction as he fell. 

Arrow just nods. “I’ll write up a report and get you moved to palliative care,” he says quietly, “It’s the best I can do.”

“No, don’t- I’ll take care of it.” Cody shakes his head. He doesn’t want special care - a part of him feels like he doesn’t deserve it. He’s going to make his own arrangements and then… then he’ll see what happens next.

* * *

It comes faster than they’d expected. He’s on a mission - his last, Arrow had insisted - and they’re clearing the village, looking for an escaped Jedi. He’s the one that finds them, and through the haze of  _ good soldiers follow orders _ , he sees them for what they really are; they’re just a  _ child _ , a terrified child with a lightsaber that’s too big for them in familiar blue, and a desperation he knows too well in their eyes.

So he makes a choice, with the bitterness of flowers in his mouth and grief swelling again in his chest. When he raises his blaster, he misses, but the lightsaber doesn’t. It burns through him, but there’s only relief. 

When they find Cody’s body, there’s a smile on his lips and golden flowers on the ground around him. 


End file.
